


We'll Take Care of Each Other

by jsymo



Series: Breifs [6]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Marriage, Sick Dean, Sick Sam, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-18
Updated: 2014-11-18
Packaged: 2018-02-26 03:25:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2636258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jsymo/pseuds/jsymo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The flu strikes the Winchester household...</p>
            </blockquote>





	We'll Take Care of Each Other

“Daddee, M’cold,” Dean held his son tighter, running his hands through Matthew’s sweat slick hair and hoisting the small boy higher in his grasp.

“I know buddy,” he responded even though he knew his son was barely paying attention to anything his father was saying, let alone the fact that he had even said anything. 

Dean felt the shiver run down Matthew’s body and so Dean resumed walking in calm, slightly bouncy steps throughout the house. He had already given the small boy his dose of children’s medicine to help with the fever, but it would take a while to kick in, and until then he had the task of consoling a child who was sleepy, sweaty, shivery and teary eyed. 

Mattie made soft sniffling sounds, and Dean could feel the tell-tale sign of a lip quiver against his neck. The three year old let escape a whimper and Dean sat on the arm of the couch to lean his son away from him so that he could look into his miserable blue eyes.

“What’s wrong buddy? Why are you crying?”

“My tummy hu-urts,” Matthew made a strange burping noise and Dean logically knew what was next. The lady who ran the daycare had told Dean what to expect when it turned out that one of the kids at Matthew’s daycare had infected the lot of children with the flu.

Swift, yet gently, Dean ran Matthew to the bathroom, and before the little boy had a chance to understand what was about to happen Dean was holding him over the toilet watching helplessly as his son started throwing up. 

When Matthew sat up in his father’s arms his eyes were brimming with tears that were flowing freely down his face, snot was drooling out from his pink nose and his lips were coated in spit. 

It was breaking Dean’s heart.

“C’mon buddy,” Dean arranged himself on the floor of the bathroom, leaned up against the tub with Matthew secure in his lap facing the toilet. 

Dean flushed the toilet and reached behind him to grab a washcloth and soak it in water from the tub’s faucet before wiping Matthew’s face down.

“Feelin’ better Mattie?” he asked softly as each swipe over the boys face slowly revealed an end to the tears, for now, and less lip quivering. 

“A little,” his voice was childish and quiet. 

Dean rewet the washcloth and draped it over Matthew’s shoulders and back. He had plenty of experience with taking care of a sick Sammy when he had been Mattie’s age; so Dean knew perfectly well how to take care of their son. 

He knew that the small boy wouldn’t take kindly to having a hand over his eyes, and that the cold wash cloth would feel unpleasant to him. It had to Sammy. So Dean did the same thing with his son that he had done to his brother all those years ago, he used his large hand to hold the cool rag in a place where small hands wouldn’t be able to easily pull it away. 

After about twenty minutes Matthew had slumped into Dean’s hold, tiny arms wrapped around the bicep of the arm that wasn’t holding the cloth to his back. Dean looked down and was relieved to see the patch of drool that had spread out around his arm pit. Matthew was asleep. 

Dean slowly pulled them up from the floor and rewet the cloth in the sink before walking into the living room to make his way into Mattie’s bedroom to put him down for a few hours of sleep. 

He was at the couch when he heard a quiet tapping noise and looked over to the front door to see their neighbor from across the street smiling sheepishly and waving at him.

They had dropped Maggie off with their neighbor across the street. They were a couple in their forties, empty nesters, and when Susan, the wife, had wandered over to chat with Dean when he had pulled into the driveway after picking up a sick Matthew from school heard about the illness she had offered to take in their year old daughter to hopefully avoid two sick kids.

If the sight of Maggie’s baby carrier had anything to say, then the Winchester’s weren’t so lucky.

Dean made his way to the front door and opened it, “hey Susan.”

“Hey Dean,” she bent over to pick up the baby carrier, “I don’t think we were quick enough this time.”

“That’s what I figured.”

“I tried to keep her for as long as I could, but sick babies only ever really calm down for their daddies,” she made her way into the house and deposited Maggie’s baby bag on the couch.

Dean looked into the baby carrier and could see that his daughter was unbuckled and stripped down to her diaper.

“Fever started?”

“Yeah, she started burning up a bit ago. Hasn’t got too bad yet, but I don’t have anything for kids. Where is your --.”

“On the kitchen counter, I picked some stuff up for GiGi cause I figured she’d end up with something,” Dean motioned with his head. “You can set the carrier on the table, I’m going to drop off the lump in his bed and I’ll be back out.”

Dean crept down the hallway to Mattie’s bedroom and placed the sleeping child on top of his covers. Mattie didn’t move an inch from where his father placed him, and Dean was happy that his son was getting some much needed sleep.

He left the door wide open and crept back out to the kitchen where Susan sat, rocking the baby carrier, and holding out a pre-measured spoon of medicine for Maggie.

“Here,” she relinquished her spot in front of Maggie and handed the plastic spoon to Dean. “I’ll let you.”

Dean got closer and saw the big brown doe eyes of his daughter staring up at him; she was awake but not fussy. 

“Hey GiGi, you gonna be a big girl for me?” he said though he knew she had no idea what he was talking about. 

Dean leaned forward, prepared for crying as he put the spoon to Maggie’s mouth and tipped it up, but was pleasantly surprised when all he got from the baby was a disgusted face and slobbery lip smacking.

“That’s right, GiGi, just like your Daddy. We don’t let nothing get to us huh?”

He stood up and flashed Susan a smile. 

“So how’s everyone doing?” she asked as Dean pulled Maggie from the baby carrier.

“Well, Sams out for the count,” he announced. 

“I was wondering where he was, I mean, I know that it’s kind of late, but I figured he would be up with you and Mattie still.”

“Yeah, he went to bed about an hour ago,” Dean started swaying a bit to add to the drowsy effects of the medicine, hoping that Maggie would fall asleep eventually.

“He had been watching TV when all of a sudden he turned green and ran to the bathroom,” Dean chuckled and shook his head. “I pumped him full of stuff after that and sent him to bed; I can take care of Mattie just fine on my own.”

“Do you need me to stay and help now that it’s the two of them?”

“Thanks Susan, but I’ll be okay, Mattie’ll be out for a couple of hours and Maggie handles stuff like a champ,” Dean ducked down to look into the rapidly blinking eyes of his daughter who was silently losing the battle against sleep. 

“Alright,” Susan reached out with a frown and stroked through the messy mop of hair on Maggie’s head, “next time I’m keeping your baby, Winchester, she’s too darn cute.”

Dean smiled at that. They had only had Maggie for six months, and she wasn’t biologically theirs, but he was damn proud of the fact that his kids were the cutest things he had ever seen.

“Good luck with that.”

Susan let herself out of the house and Dean started walking around the house in his attempt to get Maggie to fall asleep now. 

It took less time with her than it had with Matthew, and before Dean knew it he was putting his daughter in her crib to get in as much sleep as she could.

Dean walked over to Matthew’s door and peered in, his son was still laying unmoving on the bed. Just a lump on top of the sheets.

He smiled and made his way into his and Sam’s bedroom. 

Sam wasn’t in the bed like he had been when Dean had last seen him about two hours ago. He went over to the bathroom and found his brother, curled around the toilet in just his sweaty boxers. Sam’s sweat sticky cheek was plastered to the toilet seat and a long line of spit hung from his opened lips into the toilet bowl. 

If it weren’t for the fact that Dean had been covered in worse things throughout his life, the fact that when sick his entire family felt it necessary to cover things in their bodily fluids would make him squirm.

He sighed and kneeled next to Sam. He gathered up the long arms and pulled the equally long legs into a reclined sitting position before hefting his brother up into his arms. Sam shifted slightly and woke up just enough to recognize that he was no longer wrapped around the toilet. 

“Dean?”

“I’m here,” Dean nuzzled his head to Sam’s as he moved his brother’s large frame onto their bed. 

“How’s Mattie?” Dean smirked at Sam using the nickname for their son that Dean had started. 

“Asleep,” he could have told Sam about Maggie, but figured that his brother would only feel bad for not being able to help take care of their kids and force himself out of bed if he found out, so he kept his mouth shut.

Sam closed his eyes as his head hit the pillow, but reached out to pull Dean onto the bed with him. Dean was forced to curl up against Sam and he sighed. Sam’s skin was warm and tacky with sweat and Dean’s sleep shirt stuck to the skin that it made contact with.

“You better not get me sick, Sam,” Dean warned.

“Don’ worry, I’ll take care of you,” Sam murmured already half asleep.

Dean rolled his eyes. “And what if you’re still sick huh?”

“We’ll take care of each other,” Sam said simply as he fell back asleep.

Dean followed his brother’s lead and slept as well, after all he would have to wake up at some point in the next couple of hours to help out at least one of his kids. 

Sure enough Dean was right. Just before dawn he heard the cries of Maggie as she woke up, and as Dean threw his legs over the side of the bed to go to her he felt a wave of nausea and threw up into the bucket that miraculously appeared in front of his face.

Sam removed himself slowly from his side of the bed and ran his hand through Dean’s hair before going to check up on their daughter. He swayed a bit as he walked since he was still sick, but Sam was right. 

When the Winchesters were sick they took care of each other.


End file.
